BALLSTON -- Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa defenseman Brady Campbell admitted that Christmas came early for the 6-foot-2 sophomore after he scored the game-winning goal in overtime during the holiday break to defeat LaSalle, 3-2, for the fourth straight win for the combined Spartan-Scottie' squad.

"It didn't come off my stick right and it kind of bounced in, it wasn't anything that impressive," Campbell said. "I just got lucky."

The first-ever high school goal for the big defenseman came at the right time. Following a subsequent win over Lasalle in a return match this past week, Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa was 5-2 in the Capital District High School Hockey League and 7-4-1 overall.

"We knew LaSalle hadn't won a game this year and they were going to be pretty hungry," Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa coach Jim Buffoline said.

Advertisement

Last weekend, the Spartans knotted the contest at one-goal apiece when they took advantage of a delayed penalty against LaSalle after coming off a power play and sophomore Ian Speck got the puck past Cadet goalie Zac Rentz at 8:05 of the second period. But the Cadets scored a shorthanded goal to retake the lead.

Desperate for a goal, the Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa third line answered when sophomore Justin Andolina found classmate Bryce Ward for the game-tying goal at 11:13. Campbell gave all the credit to his classmate, Ward.

"If I didn't score, someone on my team would have," Campbell said.

The Spartan-Scottie squad counts two league overtime wins in a week among its victories this season.

"We talked in the locker room about just staying focused, staying one period at a time, one five minute period, one shift at a time and taking it shift by shift," Buffoline said.

The last time the squad had four league wins or more was during the 2008-2009 season, prior to the combining of the Ballston Spa High School players with the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School hockey program.

"One thing different this year from last year is that we relied on four, five really skilled players and this time we have a lot more depth," Buffoline said.

"Some of our 10th graders are the better players on the team this year."